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00:00:00For the love of the horse, for generations to come.
00:00:28Welcome to another edition of the TD and Riders Room, presented by Keeneland.
00:00:33Bill Finlay, our illustrious leader, is a bit under the weather this week.
00:00:37So you're stuck with me and Zoe, the TD and Riders Room exacta this week.
00:00:43Let's get the introductions out of the way.
00:00:44I'm Randy Moss with NBC Sports.
00:00:47Zoe Catman here with First Racing at Saratoga, finally.
00:00:52Now it took me a while to get here, guys.
00:00:54I broke down in St. George, Utah.
00:00:57If you ever break down when you're on the road, I can picture no more picturesque place
00:01:03than St. George, Utah.
00:01:04It's absolutely beautiful.
00:01:05But it was 115 degrees.
00:01:08I think you might be able to see Doodle behind me, finally.
00:01:11Because he's...
00:01:12Let's see.
00:01:13Let's move this.
00:01:14Can you see the Doodle?
00:01:15There he is.
00:01:17There's the Doodle.
00:01:19Doodle was in the car with you?
00:01:21Doodle was...
00:01:22Well, of course.
00:01:23Because that's why, like a maniac, I opted to drive across the country because Doodle
00:01:28didn't fly very well last year.
00:01:31So a couple of days in St. George, Utah.
00:01:34Note to self, do not break down on a holiday weekend because you feel like it'll be a lovely
00:01:39time to drive.
00:01:39If you need help on the road, you are not going to find anyone that comes and get you.
00:01:44Get the AAA premium package and not the one that'll tow you seven miles.
00:01:49And don't drive a Jag because nobody can fix it.
00:01:52So my car's in Vegas, having a wonderful time.
00:01:56And I'm in Saratoga, looking forward to the rest of the meet.
00:01:59So there you have it.
00:02:02So I know people are wondering, conceptually, you live in California.
00:02:07Correct.
00:02:07You were driving from California to Saratoga because you wanted your car.
00:02:15And it was supposedly a little easier on Doodle.
00:02:18And I'm here all summer.
00:02:20And then I'll go to Keeneland right after.
00:02:22And then I'll drive back.
00:02:24So I actually just bought a car yesterday because I know that my car will probably stay
00:02:31in Vegas for quite some time.
00:02:32So we'll figure it out along the way.
00:02:34You belong in the Pet Ownership Hall of Fame.
00:02:41To drive from California to Saratoga because it's easier on Doodle is next level pet care.
00:02:49Come on, Randy.
00:02:49You would do that too.
00:02:50You'd do that for Lucy.
00:02:52I would do it for Lucy.
00:02:53You're right.
00:02:54Or my daughter, Hallie.
00:02:55All right.
00:02:56So Bill's not with us.
00:02:58But he left us with a handy dandy format of all the topics that he thought.
00:03:03We're going to add a couple in here as well.
00:03:05Let's start off with the Haskell.
00:03:07It's the big race this weekend.
00:03:10I'll be there for NBC Sports leaving on Thursday.
00:03:13The race is obviously on Saturday.
00:03:16Before we get into the nuts and bolts of the Haskell, I want to talk a little bit about
00:03:20just Monmouth Park in general.
00:03:24How much time have you gotten a chance to spend at Monmouth over the years?
00:03:30I really haven't, to be honest.
00:03:32I went there for one weekend and I went as a fan with a friend of mine.
00:03:37And you know what?
00:03:38It really struck me, the picnic atmosphere.
00:03:42After spending a lot of years at Arlington Park, every Friday we'd have a party in the park.
00:03:47And Monmouth was really the only place that I feel like I've experienced the same thing.
00:03:52Now a lot of people have only been to Monmouth and that disastrous 2007 Breeders' Cup when
00:03:58it just rained and rained and rained.
00:04:00But really, people don't realize what a great place it is.
00:04:04It's right next to the beach.
00:04:06And it's like family fun friendly.
00:04:08You can just grab a beer and go sit on the grass and put your kids on the playground.
00:04:13It's a really fun place to be.
00:04:16I think my first trip to Monmouth was in 2000.
00:04:20I started with ESPN in 1999 and we did the Haskell every year starting in 2000.
00:04:26So I've been there almost every year since then, just for the Haskell.
00:04:30I've never really experienced Monmouth Park other than the 2007 Breeders' Cup and the Haskell.
00:04:36But those particular days, I look forward to going to Monmouth Park for Haskell weekend
00:04:42as much as any trip all year long.
00:04:47It's an old school racetrack, which I love.
00:04:50It's extremely well maintained.
00:04:54But more than anything else, I mean, you get a huge crowd, obviously, for the Haskell.
00:04:59I mean, the young people come pouring in from off the beach.
00:05:03The demographics are fantastic.
00:05:05But the people there are so friendly and they're so interesting.
00:05:09When we had our ESPN and then NBC, when we had back in the day,
00:05:15when we would actually set up our set, you know all about TV sets,
00:05:19when we would set up our set on the apron, right in the middle of all the people,
00:05:23it was unbelievable the number of fans that would just pack in around the set.
00:05:31You felt like a movie star.
00:05:33It was unbelievable.
00:05:35Yeah, yeah, me.
00:05:35Can you imagine that?
00:05:38Just packed in around the set and wanting to talk about horses and talk about everything.
00:05:43Yeah, it was just so cool.
00:05:44The people and their enthusiasm for the sport.
00:05:47And it's just a trip that I really, really look forward to making every year.
00:05:52Well, it doesn't look like it's going to be an oversubscribed field thus far.
00:05:57Fierceness, Tuscan Sky, Doorknob, Timberlake, Seastreak, maybe.
00:06:02And then this morning at Saratoga,
00:06:06Cesar Gray went and actually worked on the main track.
00:06:09There was a D-Wayne Lucas sighting on the main track.
00:06:12He usually works all his horses over there in Oklahoma.
00:06:16And he works Cesar Gray out there.
00:06:17And he just rolled along this morning, according to clocker Mike Welch.
00:06:22I was not out there this morning, which is unfortunate.
00:06:25I was it's my day off today.
00:06:28But it looks like he may go to the Haskell.
00:06:32But really, I think Wayne wants to point towards the Jim Dandy.
00:06:36So we'll find out in over the next couple of days.
00:06:39A reminder that we are recording this on Tuesday.
00:06:42So entries are not out yet for the Haskell.
00:06:45But I mean, if you're looking at the field as a whole and the real fierceness shows up,
00:06:50I mean, he's got to be the one to beat.
00:06:52He's been working lights out.
00:06:53We'll hear from Todd Pletcher a little bit later on.
00:06:58He worked with Tuscan Skye, who's also in there.
00:07:01Just a couple of works and absolutely put him to bed.
00:07:05Now Tuscan Skye is supposed to go.
00:07:06I mean, who will be his main competition?
00:07:08Doorknock?
00:07:10But they're going to be like battling up there on the front end.
00:07:13And they're going to be draw dependent.
00:07:15Fierceness has only one way to go.
00:07:17And it seems like Doorknock pretty much the same thing.
00:07:20Yeah, if you've clicked on this, as you pointed out, I mean,
00:07:25you'll know that we're talking to Todd Pletcher a little bit later.
00:07:28So that's definitely going to be one of the questions we have to ask him really is.
00:07:32I mean, you've got three horses with, you're right.
00:07:35Fierceness is pretty much got to go at this point, I think.
00:07:39I mean, based on what we've seen from him so far.
00:07:41Mindframe stalked in the Belmont, but he was only about a length, length and a half off the pace.
00:07:46Tuscan Skye, his best seems to be up on the lead or stalking a little bit
00:07:52like he was at the fairgrounds when he won the allowance race.
00:07:55Doorknock's got to go.
00:07:56Timberlake is always very aggressive early.
00:07:59Yeah, I mean, it looks like it could be a pretty fast paced race.
00:08:01But I think the big question to ask Todd is with the Jim Dandy.
00:08:08Also right there at Saratoga, why run all three of these horses,
00:08:12if indeed that's what he's going to do against each other in the Haskell?
00:08:17It's kind of unusual.
00:08:19Yeah, it really is.
00:08:20So we'll talk to him later.
00:08:21And I've got another one.
00:08:22Where's Bob?
00:08:24Like, Bob usually runs one in the Haskell.
00:08:26I should have reached out to him earlier and been like, where are your horses?
00:08:29Where's Bob?
00:08:30Parenting must have had a setback.
00:08:32Muth apparently wasn't ready.
00:08:34So he announced that, announced with air quotes,
00:08:39that he was going to run Parenting in the Haskell.
00:08:43That was going to be his Haskell horse.
00:08:44And of course, Bob has practically owned the Haskell in those years
00:08:48that he sent a horse, which is most of the time.
00:08:51But then suddenly he, you know, the word came out that Parenting was not going to be entered.
00:08:56So he must not have trained and have met the Bob Baffert super cherry
00:09:04seal of approval as he was getting him ready for the Haskell.
00:09:08We all know Bob flies by the seat of his pants in terms of,
00:09:12you know, visuals and judging horses based on workouts
00:09:15and making last minute calls and all that sort of thing.
00:09:18Yeah.
00:09:18So, but I mean, he just worked.
00:09:20So it looks like it's not going to be an oversubscribed field,
00:09:23but it will be a good one.
00:09:24And it will be interesting to see if Bob runs all of his.
00:09:27I can tell you one thing.
00:09:28I watched Doorknock work on the main track and he worked in 47 and four
00:09:33on the outside of another horse who I can't remember the name of right now
00:09:38off the top of my head, but he looked as good as he's ever looked.
00:09:42So, you know, everyone's tired of Danny's been bullish about him and why not?
00:09:46Why not?
00:09:47He's, he's, he's proven him right, which is great.
00:09:50So he looks as good as he's ever looked.
00:09:52So he's definitely going to be in the mix and it will be a draw dependent race
00:09:57because there is a ton of speed and you got two horses in there that need the lead.
00:10:02How fast do they have to go?
00:10:04At Monmouth, they can go pretty fast
00:10:05because it's sort of a speed favoring racetrack compared to Saratoga.
00:10:09At least my mind frame might get the trip.
00:10:11Really.
00:10:12If Doorknock and Fierceness both go out together,
00:10:15mind frame could be stalking right behind them and, and be in a good spot.
00:10:19Also on Saturday at Saratoga, a couple of stakes races.
00:10:23There's the Lake George, but the coaching club, American Oaks,
00:10:26we get to see very short field, five horses.
00:10:30The entries are already out there.
00:10:32And the past performances, but Torpedo Anna is going to be obviously
00:10:36probably a one to five or two to five favorite based on her wins in the Kentucky Oaks.
00:10:40And most recently the Acorn in which she beat Leslie's Rose,
00:10:44who looks like the toughest competition against her in the coaching club.
00:10:49Oh, she's looking forward to seeing Torpedo Anna running in.
00:10:52Oh, I am.
00:10:53I really am.
00:10:54And you know, she worked just a couple of days ago over on the Oklahoma track.
00:10:59And I wandered over there at 7.30 because I've never seen her in person.
00:11:02I wasn't there for the Oaks and I wanted, I like to physically see horses
00:11:07because seeing them on TV and seeing them working is one thing.
00:11:10And you can get a different visual than you can when you see them in person.
00:11:15And she looked great.
00:11:16She worked right along with Gould's Gold.
00:11:19She went in one and one and two, I believe, and Gallop type like a champ.
00:11:23She looks as good as she's ever looked.
00:11:25And she is going to be extremely tough in there.
00:11:29And Kenny McPete, all thumbs up for her going forward.
00:11:32She worked with Gould's Gold, who was last seen running in the Ohio Derby.
00:11:37He might well be pointed towards the Jim Dandy as well.
00:11:40So she's keeping good company in the mornings.
00:11:42Brian Hernandez was aboard her.
00:11:44So that's good to see.
00:11:46And she most definitely is the horse to beat without question.
00:11:50So when she wins the Acorn in her last start at Saratoga.
00:11:55Right.
00:11:55So it wasn't the one turn mile we're accustomed to.
00:11:58It's the same mile and an eighth distance as this.
00:12:02She was caught four wide into the first turn.
00:12:05Right.
00:12:05Got a little ground loss there, a quick pace.
00:12:08And she's right up close to the pace.
00:12:10And then she draws off with authority and wins by five lengths.
00:12:13She got a 99 by her speed figure with a better trip.
00:12:16Probably could have been a little higher than that.
00:12:18Which puts her in the realm of the top three year olds in general of either sex.
00:12:25Yeah.
00:12:25Right.
00:12:26And we know Kenny McPeak and and, you know, we're not going to see a mystic Dan in the Travers.
00:12:32He hasn't bounced back out of the Triple Crown quite as quickly as Kenny hoped he would.
00:12:37So if Torpedo Anna wins impressively in the coaching club American Oaks,
00:12:41you'd have to think that McPeak will seriously consider running her
00:12:45against the boys in the Travers.
00:12:47And you know more about this than me.
00:12:49From what I've read, physically, Torpedo Anna is the kind of filly that
00:12:55you would consider running against the boys.
00:12:58Yeah, she's not as big as I thought she would be.
00:13:01If I'm being honest, she does look like a filly.
00:13:03She's not this giant filly, but she's effortless.
00:13:07She gets over the ground oh so well.
00:13:10And, you know, you got to go with the horse for course angle.
00:13:13She won the Acorn so easily at Saratoga.
00:13:16She trains obviously on Oklahoma and not the main track,
00:13:20but she got over the main track like it was butter.
00:13:23So why not?
00:13:24I mean, what have you got to lose?
00:13:25And we know that Kenny likes the challenge, right?
00:13:28But Kenny doesn't like to be told what to do because people expect this now.
00:13:33So this is the other thing that you have to be careful with.
00:13:36It's Kenny's way or no way at all or the highway.
00:13:39So I believe it's going to be day by day with Kenny as to where she goes.
00:13:45You have to get over this race first and see what happens.
00:13:49So five are entered in the coaching club, Oaks.
00:13:51Candied for Todd Pletcher, who won at Monmouth.
00:13:53Barbara Tina, a long shot for George Weaver.
00:13:55Torpedo Anna, Leslie's Row, second in the Acorn for Todd.
00:13:59And intricate trained by Brendan Walsh.
00:14:02Now, we don't want to just focus on the East Coast because we have
00:14:06a huge event taking place in Southern California, of course.
00:14:09Opening day, opening weekend at Del Mar.
00:14:13I like Monmouth and how much I enjoy going to Monmouth.
00:14:16Saratoga, obviously spectacular.
00:14:19If I had to pick one day, one racing day to be at in American racing,
00:14:24I there's the Kentucky Derby.
00:14:26OK, love the end the Triple Crown.
00:14:28All right.
00:14:28And there's the Breeders' Cup.
00:14:30That's two days, not one day.
00:14:32Other than that, opening day at Del Mar is like a spectacle.
00:14:38Almost Kentucky Derby-ish on a smaller scale.
00:14:44Beach vibe, Southern California type scale.
00:14:47I've only been to opening day at Del Mar one time,
00:14:51but it's seared in my memory as something that was really, really a lot of fun.
00:14:56Well, the one thing you can guarantee, it's funny, I was talking to Barbara Bankey
00:15:00just the other day.
00:15:01We were both queuing up for coffee at the Dunkin' Donuts stand.
00:15:05And it's hot.
00:15:06It's been like hotter than hell here in Saratoga.
00:15:09Hot and humid.
00:15:10We haven't had the rain, thank goodness.
00:15:12But it's been hot and we were talking about it.
00:15:16She basically just said, she's like, yeah, but Del Mar's weather is just so much better
00:15:21because it is.
00:15:23You can guarantee what kind of weather you're going to get.
00:15:25You're going to get mid-70s, a nice breeze coming off the ocean,
00:15:29and it's going to be beautiful weather.
00:15:31You're not going to be lashed with rain.
00:15:32You have a guarantee of the weather.
00:15:34You're close to the beach.
00:15:35People from the East Coast love to go in and go to the beach.
00:15:39I know when they had Del Mar Breeders' Cup.
00:15:43I've never seen so many pink Euros in my life because it was sunny and warm.
00:15:48All the Euros that brought horses over, got off the plane, went straight to the beach,
00:15:52and just got third-degree burns because it's the middle of November
00:15:56and they couldn't believe it was warm and sunny.
00:15:59Opening day is a sight to behold.
00:16:02It always used to be on a Wednesday or a Thursday,
00:16:04but now they've pushed it to a Saturday for a weekend opener,
00:16:07which makes it even more packed.
00:16:11And I have done opening day a couple of times.
00:16:14One of the funnest things that I remember doing was riding the train down
00:16:19from basically Santa Anita.
00:16:22It's a couple of hops.
00:16:23You get on the train, you get on the Pacific Coast,
00:16:26and go all the way down there.
00:16:27They drop you off at Solana Beach,
00:16:29and then they have a fleet of open-air double-decker buses
00:16:33that will pick you up from Solana Beach and take you to the racetrack.
00:16:38By the time we got there, it was like, this is the best thing ever.
00:16:43We're on a double-decker bus.
00:16:44We're going to Del Mar alongside the beach, and we got there.
00:16:50And yeah, and then we got on the train,
00:16:52alongside the beach, and we got there.
00:16:54And yeah, the train ride home was a long train ride home,
00:16:58but it was a really fun day.
00:17:00So there'll be a lot of people looking forward.
00:17:02Opening weekend will be the Grade II San Clemente,
00:17:06which is oversubscribed, as well as the Oceanside,
00:17:09which has in the past been run in two divisions.
00:17:12The nominations are through the roof,
00:17:14so I'm not sure what they're going to do about that.
00:17:15Entries are not out yet, but it looks like
00:17:18it's going to be a super, super opening weekend.
00:17:21So if you've never been to Del Mar, you need to go,
00:17:24anybody who's watching this.
00:17:26And let me give you just a little primer
00:17:28if you want to go to Del Mar, right?
00:17:29There's nothing wrong with the fall meet at Del Mar,
00:17:31but if you've never been to Del Mar,
00:17:32go in the summer, right, in the summer meet.
00:17:35Make an early reservation, stay at La Berge,
00:17:37make some dinner reservations earlier, some great restaurants.
00:17:41When you get to Del Mar, it's always fantastic weather, right?
00:17:44Go to the track in the morning and watch the workouts.
00:17:46Come back, take a walk on the beach,
00:17:49rent a boogie board right there on the beach
00:17:52and spend about an hour and a half or two hours
00:17:55boogie boarding on Del Mar beach.
00:17:57When you first get in the water, it'll be cold.
00:18:00It's cold.
00:18:01And then you'll adjust to it and it'll be just sensational.
00:18:04And then you spend the afternoon at the racetrack at Del Mar
00:18:07and then a lovely night out on the town.
00:18:09It's just a fantastic.
00:18:10Don't forget, you have lunch at the Brigantine.
00:18:14Okay.
00:18:16Yeah.
00:18:16So you can maybe skip the first race and watch it there.
00:18:20They're overlooking the racetrack.
00:18:22So you go for lunch at the Brig, watch the first couple of races
00:18:26and then you walk down to the racetrack.
00:18:28Summers in American racing, Saratoga and Del Mar.
00:18:32Nothing wrong with that.
00:18:33Aren't we lucky?
00:18:36And that's a nice segue from Del Mar to Keeneland.
00:18:40The TDN Writers Room is brought to you by Keeneland.
00:18:42The September sale runs from September the 9th.
00:18:46The 21st, I'll be driving there, trying not to break down.
00:18:49If you're wondering why you should attend,
00:18:51you only need to look at the Saratoga Maiden Races from the weekend.
00:18:55Kimchi Cat, Reynolds Channeled, Touch Catch,
00:18:58all came out of the Keeneland September sale
00:19:00to go on and win coveted Maiden Races this past weekend.
00:19:04I'm sure we'll have some very nice Maiden Races at Del Mar
00:19:08that Keeneland grads will win as well.
00:19:11Also, Miss Justify won Saratoga's Wilton Stakes
00:19:14and Twirling Queen remained undefeated with a win
00:19:18in the Coronation Cup at Woodbine.
00:19:20We'll be right back after this message from Keeneland.
00:19:27At Keeneland, a horse will always be measured in hands.
00:19:34Hands that see, that sense, that speak.
00:19:42Hands that hold our sport to a higher standard.
00:19:46Not for our sake, but for theirs.
00:19:50For the love of the horse for generations to come.
00:19:56And this week's Fastest Horse of the Week is brought to you by Independence Hall,
00:19:59one of those fast sires at Windstar Farm.
00:20:01And Independence Hall has been looking forward
00:20:03to sponsoring this segment this week because he's very proud.
00:20:06He has some big news.
00:20:08Independence Hall's first yearling sold at BASIC, tipped in July.
00:20:11He had three yearlings entered.
00:20:13All three sold for six-figure prices.
00:20:16And how about this for analytics?
00:20:18There is a stat for the highest stud fee multiple
00:20:22among Kentucky Stallions with two or more yearlings sold.
00:20:26Right?
00:20:27Independence Hall's 14.83 times his stud fee.
00:20:33That is impressive.
00:20:34Independence Hall was impressive as a racehorse.
00:20:36A record-setting, undefeated juvenile.
00:20:39He won the great two Fayette Stakes later in his career.
00:20:42And of course, we wouldn't be talking about this
00:20:44without the fact that Independence Hall stands stud at Windstar Farm.
00:20:50Now, the Fastest Horse of the Week.
00:20:51It happened on Sunday at Saratoga.
00:20:53The Quick Call Stakes.
00:20:55Five and a half furlongs on the toyth.
00:20:58And that was Star of Mystery, a three-year-old filly.
00:21:03Star of Mystery, a three-year-old filly, right?
00:21:05Running against the boys.
00:21:07Wins the Quick Call by a length and a half
00:21:10under Flavian Pratt with a buyer speed figure of 1.06.
00:21:15Prior to that, Star of Mystery had run in the jiper on Belmont Stakes Weekend.
00:21:20Again, against the boys.
00:21:21Finished third in that race behind the sensational Cogburn.
00:21:24And bounces back with this big win for Godolphin.
00:21:27We've talked recently about how Appleby has been targeting Saratoga now
00:21:33with the string that he is campaigning full-time in the U.S. this year.
00:21:37He's got a murderer's row up there based at Saratoga.
00:21:40Well, this is salvo number one.
00:21:42This is the first horse Godolphin and Charlie Appleby have run at Saratoga.
00:21:45And Star of Mystery comes through and becomes the Fastest Horse of the Week.
00:21:54Now, the segment that we all look forward to every week,
00:21:56our Green Group Guest of the Week, brought to you, of course, by the Green Group,
00:21:59a tax consulting and advisory firm specializing in the thoroughbred industry
00:22:04and in saving you money on your taxes.
00:22:08So we've been told we should call this part of the podcast.
00:22:11I've heard the Todd pod.
00:22:15Todd on the pod.
00:22:16The pod with Todd.
00:22:20Fourteen-time Saratoga Training Champion Todd Pletcher with us,
00:22:23graciously joining us.
00:22:25And I say graciously because before we get into the Haskell,
00:22:28I've seen you many times at Saratoga.
00:22:31All the owners want to run their horses at Saratoga.
00:22:34All the owners want to be at Saratoga and want you to pay attention to them.
00:22:40What is this month and a half like for someone with a stable like you at Saratoga?
00:22:48It's, yeah, Saratoga is a different animal than anywhere else we go.
00:22:54It can be relatively quiet on days like today, you know, a dark day.
00:22:58And then you can kind of not have a bunch of people hanging around.
00:23:03But there's nothing quite like sale week.
00:23:07You know, you kind of would think, if you're an outsider, you might think,
00:23:11oh, Travers Week is really, you know, a crazy week at Saratoga.
00:23:14But it's really the week surrounding the yearling sale that is by far the most attended
00:23:22and, you know, and everybody wants to be out in the morning,
00:23:25see their horses trained and know what time they're going.
00:23:27And, yeah, so, you know, it can be challenging at times to try to stay focused on what you're doing
00:23:35and, you know, and train your horses.
00:23:37So it's great, you know, to have that kind of enthusiasm and people out here.
00:23:42But at the same time, it's it can be distracting if you're not careful.
00:23:46I'm so racing sleeper.
00:23:48Yeah, oh, it's crazy.
00:23:51When do you sleep?
00:23:54Because like what time do you get to the barn?
00:23:56What's your schedule on an average day?
00:23:57You're obviously still at your barn now on a dark day where most people
00:24:01are revving up their boat and heading out to the lake.
00:24:04So what's a day look like for Todd Pletcher?
00:24:08Well, so we have we have horses on the Oklahoma side,
00:24:12and then we have horses on the harness track side.
00:24:15And we sort of try to combine and have our sets meet one another at the same time on the track
00:24:24so we can watch them all train.
00:24:25So typically, I'll show up at the Oklahoma track at four o'clock in the morning,
00:24:30go over kind of what we're doing for the day and get prepared to make entries.
00:24:36And of course, now you have to have the veterinarians examine every horse before
00:24:40they're entered.
00:24:41So we have to have those forms in place.
00:24:43So I'll spend about 45 minutes here.
00:24:45And then I'll go over to the harness track and spend about 30,
00:24:4845 minutes looking through horses over there before we come back and get the first set.
00:24:53And then once 530, 545, we hit the track.
00:24:57And it's pretty much training up until 10 o'clock.
00:24:59And then start to wrap up things, make some entries,
00:25:05then start to talk to my assistants and kind of going over what we've got planned for the day
00:25:10and tomorrow and that sort of stuff.
00:25:13Let's not forget turf works that go on till noon some days.
00:25:18Yeah, yeah.
00:25:20Those are on Friday and Sunday generally.
00:25:22So yeah, those can delay your schedule quite a bit depending on what time slot you drive,
00:25:33what time slot you draw.
00:25:35But yeah, we do some turf works.
00:25:38But once we kind of get a feel for if we think a two-year-old handles it or not,
00:25:44then we'll kind of focus on most of the training on the dirt.
00:25:49So on sales week, do you also have to wedge in time to walk the sales grounds
00:25:54with Bloodstock agents and look at horses?
00:25:56Or do you pretty much hand that off to them?
00:25:59Well, what most of my owners will do, they'll have somebody making a short list.
00:26:03So hopefully I can get away with looking at a condensed list.
00:26:08But yeah, I mean, I actually enjoy that part of it.
00:26:11I enjoy looking at yearlings.
00:26:12I think it's challenging.
00:26:15It's interesting.
00:26:18I enjoy that part of it.
00:26:19Unfortunately, at Saratoga, I just don't have the time to do as much of it
00:26:26or as good a job at it as I would like.
00:26:28So for the September sale at Keeneland, that's all I do for the five or six days that I'm there.
00:26:35But here, we got so much going on with the races that I'll try to, on Monday,
00:26:43that morning of the sale and Tuesday, I'll try to catch up some
00:26:47and go over there sometimes in between races or what have you.
00:26:50But it's just it's hard to look as much as I'd like.
00:26:53Well, your record shows you're good at it.
00:26:55What do you enjoy the most about analyzing the yearlings when you look at them like that?
00:27:00Well, I mean, it's just trying to figure out what makes one good.
00:27:05And everyone sort of has their own idea, their own special taste type of horses that they like.
00:27:13And one of the things that I really enjoyed about working for Wayne back a long time ago now,
00:27:20but started for him in 89, started coming to Saratoga.
00:27:25To Saratoga.
00:27:26And one of the things that I got to do when I was his assistant was go to the
00:27:33Fasig-Tipton sales grounds and look at yearlings with him and pick his brain on
00:27:39what he looked for and what he liked.
00:27:42And also did the same with my dad for a long time.
00:27:47When I was younger, I remember going to the sales with him,
00:27:51maybe as early as when I was 11 or 12.
00:27:53And so just, you know, you try to learn hopefully what a good horse looks like and moves like.
00:28:01And of course, most of the time you're probably wrong, but it's fun when you're right.
00:28:08To this day, most people have a particular yearling that they've seen at the sale
00:28:14and it's either turned out to be great or it's not been great, but it's one that you remember.
00:28:19Do you have one that you're like, oh man, I remember him as a yearling?
00:28:22Do you have one?
00:28:26Malifat comes to mind.
00:28:29I love that filly at the sale.
00:28:31And I was having trouble.
00:28:33I knew she was going to be expensive.
00:28:35I was having trouble finding someone that was willing to step up and buy her.
00:28:42Ended up kind of putting together a deal where
00:28:46we had like four people that were gonna go in partnership.
00:28:50And then we were actually bidders at a million.
00:28:54She went for $1.5 million to Shadwell.
00:28:57And then I was fortunate.
00:29:00You know, Karen McLaughlin decided that he was gonna get the filly to train as a two-year-old.
00:29:07He had decided that he was going to retire.
00:29:10And so he was helpful in me getting the Shadwell account and ultimately getting that filly.
00:29:18So yeah, she was one.
00:29:20Another horse that comes to mind is I remember Wayne and I looking at Unbridled Song as a
00:29:25yearling and he was huge.
00:29:28And we looked at him and looked at him and ultimately decided that he was gonna be too big.
00:29:37And then I guess he showed up at Barrett's and Wayne saw him again there.
00:29:41I wasn't at that sale, but at the two-year-old training sale.
00:29:44And I remember him telling me, we were talking about,
00:29:46do you remember that really big gray colt?
00:29:48And he said, man, he flew at Barrett's.
00:29:52And obviously him and a lot of people tried to buy him at that sale.
00:29:56And I think he ended up getting returned or whatever.
00:30:00And Ernie Paragallo kept him and turned out to be an absolute beast and a great sire as well.
00:30:08We could probably talk to you for an hour about ones that got away
00:30:11and fantastic stories and stuff like that.
00:30:14But let's segue to the Haskell.
00:30:17I think that's what everybody wants to hear about right now.
00:30:20The talk for weeks has been that you might run all three of your three-year-olds right now
00:30:28that you're pointing for these big races, Mindframe, Fierceness, and Tuscan Sky.
00:30:33Where does that stand now as we tape this on Tuesday afternoon?
00:30:39So as of right now, we're prepared to enter all three tomorrow.
00:30:42We've been preparing all three as though they might run in the Haskell.
00:30:50Obviously, I don't really want to run Mindframe and Fierceness against one another.
00:30:57The tricky thing about it is, in this particular situation,
00:31:01is the Haskell's a grade one and the Jim Dandy's a grade two.
00:31:05Fierceness has already established his stallion value.
00:31:09He's champion two-year-old.
00:31:10He's won the Florida Derby.
00:31:11He's a multiple grade one winner.
00:31:13Mindframe, on the other hand, is on the verge of becoming a major stallion prospect,
00:31:19and to some degree, he's a stallion prospect already.
00:31:22But a grade one win for him is a big payday in terms of his stallion value.
00:31:29So that's what we have to look at.
00:31:33Take, for example, on Saturday, we had Minty.
00:31:36We felt like cranked up and ready to go.
00:31:37And we come in in the morning, he's got a temperature.
00:31:39So we have to be prepared as though we're going to run all three.
00:31:44And I think we'll enter tomorrow.
00:31:46We'll look at it, continue to monitor how all three horses are training and make a decision.
00:31:54If you decide not to run Mindframe against Fierceness,
00:31:58the most logical scenario then would be Fierceness and the Jim Dandy?
00:32:04I think so.
00:32:05I think that would probably be the backup plan, yeah.
00:32:09Interesting.
00:32:10Well, say all three of them go.
00:32:13How does the pace scenario work out with Dornach in there?
00:32:17Well, I mean, I think it's interesting because Dornach, I think now they probably
00:32:24think that their horse does his best running when he's involved.
00:32:27And if you look at the Kentucky Derby, he kind of got pinched back right away
00:32:33and didn't get that opportunity.
00:32:34And they rode him aggressively into Belmont to make sure he got there.
00:32:39And so I think the pace scenario could be similar to what we saw in the Belmont.
00:32:46If Fierceness is not in there, Fierceness is in there,
00:32:49I think that makes a major change to the pace scenario.
00:32:53So let's talk about all three horses individually here real quick.
00:32:57I suppose if you had a pecking order and you might even not want to go there,
00:33:02having just been beaten a half length in the Belmont stakes,
00:33:04Mindframe might even be number one and Fierceness number two.
00:33:07But Mindframe first, wandered a little bit through the stretch of the Belmont,
00:33:15inexperienced, lost a little focus.
00:33:19How do you gauge that when you look ahead now to the Haskell?
00:33:24Well, I mean, the one thing that we were concerned about going into the Belmont was
00:33:29did he have enough seasoning experience to be ready to run in the Belmont against horses who had
00:33:36more experience.
00:33:37And I think our concern turned out to be what ultimately cost him the race.
00:33:48By the same token, you have to be elated with the way he ran.
00:33:52And only his third start to do that was very impressive.
00:33:58At the same time, very frustrating to think that maybe we let one get away.
00:34:02Very talented horse.
00:34:04He's trained very well since then.
00:34:06I think he has the right to improve again with that race under his belt.
00:34:11And he's a May 13th foal, you would think times on his side, the more experience he gets and the
00:34:20older he gets, hopefully the better he gets.
00:34:23But yeah, so we're excited about him and think a lot of him and hopefully
00:34:31continues to do as well as he has and maybe even improves a little.
00:34:36And maybe Irad will be a little more ready for it this time when he gets the stretch at Monmouth?
00:34:43Yeah, I mean, I think Irad will make some adjustments.
00:34:47I don't blame Irad.
00:34:48You know, the first time he used the left hand, he didn't do anything.
00:34:53He kept a straight course.
00:34:54And it was kind of the second time that I think, I don't know,
00:34:57caught him off guard or, you know, it's just a natural reaction to it.
00:35:01But just, you know, not only veered off course a little bit and cost himself a little bit of
00:35:07momentum, which, who knows, might have been the difference in the race.
00:35:11But, you know, hopefully now with that experience behind him and Irad knows him
00:35:16that little bit better that we can improve on that.
00:35:21Talk to us about the progression you've seen from fierceness.
00:35:25I've seen him galloping in the morning.
00:35:27He looks great.
00:35:28It seems like yourself and Kane at Peak are going to the two veterans, both called Danny.
00:35:33Kenny's got Danny Ramsey and you've got Danny Wright, an English guy, a guy I've known for
00:35:38years.
00:35:39What has Danny meant to fierceness?
00:35:41Because it's really cool that he's got a really good horse to get on now.
00:35:46Yeah, he does.
00:35:47And, you know, he's done a really good job with him.
00:35:50He gets along with him well.
00:35:51You know, they're both pretty quiet.
00:35:54You know, fierceness is a very laid back horse in his gallops.
00:35:58And it wasn't until, geez, I guess almost a year ago now, not quite, sometime in late
00:36:06July, last year, early August, he showed us all of a sudden, you know, this horse that
00:36:11just kind of gallops around here off the bridle every day can really run.
00:36:15But, yeah, Danny's been breezing him since, you know, since the Derby.
00:36:23And he's, Johnny had worked him quite a bit leading into the Florida Derby and the Kentucky
00:36:30Derby.
00:36:30But because we've been up at Saratoga, you know, Danny's been breezing, gets along with
00:36:36him really well.
00:36:37It's just, you know, it's fun to watch when he breezes because he literally comes to the
00:36:41wire with Danny just standing up in the irons, basically just holding him together.
00:36:46And then you look down at your watch and you're like, wow, this horse is really rolling.
00:36:52So, yeah, no, they've gotten along really well.
00:36:55And so I'm happy, you know, that Danny's been able to get on a horse like that.
00:37:03So you know where I have to go now about fierceness.
00:37:06The talk going into the Kentucky Derby, obviously, was which fierceness would we see?
00:37:11And we saw the frustrating fierceness in the Kentucky Derby.
00:37:18How do you view that race?
00:37:22Well, what makes it even more disappointing is not only did we leave the Florida Derby
00:37:29thinking, you know, we had the best three-year-old, we got to Churchill and he breezed phenomenal.
00:37:36But the one thing that I did notice as we were kind of leading up to the Derby is,
00:37:44and this happens every year, so I shouldn't have been surprised, but the track was different.
00:37:49And I think on Derby Day, it wasn't the same track that he breezed over.
00:37:53It was a more demanding track.
00:37:58And the one thing that he's done in his losses is he hasn't gotten away from the gate well.
00:38:02And he was standing perfectly until right when they kicked it,
00:38:07he just kind of hopped out of there.
00:38:09You know, he did that little bunny hop up instead of forward.
00:38:12And then we wanted to be involved.
00:38:15We wanted to be close.
00:38:16We wanted to, you know, not be in behind a bunch of horses.
00:38:18So Johnny sort of gigged him away from there.
00:38:22And he told me he thought that he lit him up too much, you know,
00:38:26that he just got him on the bridle too much.
00:38:28And I still felt like when he turned down the backside, he was where we wanted to be.
00:38:35It looked like he was in a good rhythm.
00:38:37Johnny's ridden a lot of horses for me over the years.
00:38:40And almost always when he takes a look under his arm, he's loaded.
00:38:45And he did that a couple times down the backside and into the far turn.
00:38:50And so I was still confident at that point until the top of the stretch when,
00:38:55you know, the race kind of picked up and he just stayed even.
00:39:00So other than a little bit of hop at the start, really no excuse.
00:39:06Came back, we shipped him to Saratoga, and he was a pretty tired horse.
00:39:11He had tucked up a bit from the race and the ship.
00:39:14And, you know, it seemed to me pretty early on that the Belmont was just,
00:39:19you know, not timing-wise wasn't going to work.
00:39:22So I'm glad we passed that.
00:39:25He's rebounded really well.
00:39:26He's been training great.
00:39:27And we feel like he's back, you know, in his best form and hopefully going to run to his best.
00:39:34When you look at the dates of their breezes, you see a lot of,
00:39:37you see the fierceness and mind frame have worked on the same days quite often.
00:39:42How many times have they actually worked side by side, eye to eye?
00:39:48I don't recall that I've ever worked them together.
00:39:50I'm afraid to work them together.
00:39:52So they're the same owner.
00:39:56I could ask you this.
00:39:57If you did work them together, who would win?
00:40:01I think they would both breeze awfully well.
00:40:05I don't know that that would be one that, you know, they would end up separating.
00:40:10I would see them staying pretty much head and head the whole way.
00:40:14There are no winners in the pletcher barn.
00:40:16They all go head to head.
00:40:17All right.
00:40:17I've got to roll out of here, Todd.
00:40:19I've got one more question for you.
00:40:21Be real.
00:40:22When's he running?
00:40:23Friday or Saturday?
00:40:24And how good is he?
00:40:25Well, we entered in main track only on Friday, but when we entered back on Saturday,
00:40:30the rules now in New York are once you enter back,
00:40:33you're an automatic scratch out of the MTO.
00:40:35So he'll run on Saturday.
00:40:37And I know he looked really good in that gate work purely
00:40:40because the other horse didn't break at all.
00:40:43But is he a really good horse?
00:40:45I mean, should I have a little flutter?
00:40:47I think he's a fast horse.
00:40:49He's pretty aggressive, but he's an atypical Kurland.
00:40:53He's out of the Spidestown mare and he resembles, you know,
00:40:58the Spidestown line a little more to me because he acts pretty quick.
00:41:03Okay.
00:41:04All right.
00:41:04So that's Saturday, race number seven, a maiden race.
00:41:07I'm writing that down.
00:41:09I unfortunately have to love you and leave you and get out of here and get on another call.
00:41:14I've got a few more for him, Zoe.
00:41:17Make sure you ask him about Banana Gold in the Lake George.
00:41:21Switching to the curve.
00:41:22Okay. All right.
00:41:23Called to overcharge the best Louisiana bread we've ever seen.
00:41:29So yeah, the best one you've ever seen in your life.
00:41:33So yeah, make sure you ask Todd about that one because I've got to go.
00:41:36I'll see you tomorrow, Todd.
00:41:38All right.
00:41:38Have a nice day.
00:41:40All right, Todd.
00:41:40A few more questions from me.
00:41:41We haven't hit on Tuscan Sky yet.
00:41:43You look at his past performances, three sparkling races and then the disappointing
00:41:49race in the Wood Memorial.
00:41:51How confident were you after the Wood Memorial going into the Pegasus at Monmouth?
00:41:57We really liked the cold, you know, all along.
00:42:01We were disappointed in the wood, obviously.
00:42:03But we felt like the blinkers on made a difference in his enthusiasm and his work.
00:42:09So we were, you know, we were optimistic.
00:42:11But until we saw it, we were still, you know, wondering a little bit.
00:42:15Because, you know, like I said, the wood was not what we were expecting from him.
00:42:20So it's good to see him regroup.
00:42:22And I do think the blinkers had him a little more engaged and focused.
00:42:26And so it's encouraging that he handled the Monmouth surface well.
00:42:31I think, you know, the race looks better since the second place finisher came back
00:42:35and won the Dwyer since then.
00:42:37So, yeah, hopefully, you know, this is a race that he can make another move forward in.
00:42:45On numbers, even off the Pegasus, he stacks up pretty well against the best three-year-olds,
00:42:50including Mindframe and Fierceness.
00:42:53Yeah, and that's why, you know, we were optimistic going into the wood.
00:42:56And we kind of, you know, he broke his main at Aqueduct.
00:42:59Then we went to Louisiana in the allowance race.
00:43:01And we sort of trying to figure out which final prep we wanted to end up on.
00:43:07And decided on the wood.
00:43:08And then it didn't work out.
00:43:10So we kind of had to regroup.
00:43:12And hopefully, we're back on course now.
00:43:15All right, we mentioned this at the top.
00:43:17You're a 14-time Saratoga training champion.
00:43:22It's been three years, I think, since you won the training title.
00:43:26I know you would like to be the training champion,
00:43:28because that means that you've had a fantastic season.
00:43:31But is it something that you think about?
00:43:33Is it something that you keep up with during the course of a meeting?
00:43:37It depends.
00:43:39You know, I mean, yeah, for years, we did.
00:43:42You know, we were very focused on we want to win the Saratoga training title.
00:43:46And I think kind of as time has evolved and, you know,
00:43:50the stables changed a little bit.
00:43:53Like, in order to win the training title, you need to, first of all,
00:43:57make a lot of starts, win it a pretty good percentage.
00:44:00And, you know, be aggressive, placing a lot of horses, which we will be.
00:44:04But, you know, I think our stable's sort of not as balanced as it needs to be
00:44:09in order to really compete for a training title.
00:44:12You need a lot of maidens, three- and four-year-olds,
00:44:15and some claiming horses and things like that.
00:44:18And we're sort of top-heavy on maiden two-year-olds and then some stake horses.
00:44:23So a lot of the middle-class horses that are the ones that win a lot of races,
00:44:32we're kind of lacking.
00:44:33So I don't really look at it at this point.
00:44:36It's like we're in contention for it.
00:44:39But who knows, if we have a surprisingly good meet halfway through,
00:44:43we might look at it a little differently.
00:44:45You mentioned maiden two-year-olds.
00:44:46This question's for the bettors out there.
00:44:48I mean, every year you unveil a series of bears at the grizzlies,
00:44:56as Kenny McPeak might say, in the two-year-old ranks.
00:44:59Give us a couple of names of unstarted two-year-olds that no one's heard of right now
00:45:05that you're really looking forward to big things from at Saratoga
00:45:08when they run in a maiden race.
00:45:11Well, actually, it's interesting because quite a few of them
00:45:14probably wouldn't even have a name yet.
00:45:16Between the Rapoli organization and St. Elias,
00:45:21they try to wait as long as they can to name them.
00:45:27But so Joey was talking about one that we have in on Saturday,
00:45:32a curling colt named B-Real that I think is pretty quick.
00:45:37But same time, kind of not positive that I have as many works into him as I'd like,
00:45:45but he's a pretty forward-training colt
00:45:47and felt like we're getting to that point where we're getting quite a few ready.
00:45:53So I didn't want to hold up too long and need to get them started.
00:46:00The one thing that our clients are trying to buy are horses with two-turn pedigrees.
00:46:05So those don't always equate to July, August type of two-year-olds.
00:46:10But when you think of successful two-year-olds,
00:46:14you got to be a little bit precocious.
00:46:15And July, beginning of August, still pretty early on the calendar.
00:46:20A lot of the yearlings that we're purchasing are horses with pedigrees
00:46:28that we're hoping will stretch out to two turns.
00:46:31So it doesn't always equate to debut success or first time out,
00:46:40early six-for-a-long types.
00:46:42So I think we have a solid group,
00:46:46but I think it's a group that's probably going to be coming to hand.
00:46:50More towards the latter part of Saratoga than the early part.
00:46:55Any as-yet unnamed horse to watch out for?
00:47:01I do like a Quality Road homebred of St. Elias out of America
00:47:05named Sweeter Than Wine that they had.
00:47:07He's been training pretty forwardly.
00:47:09I think we'll see him in his debut probably on January 27th.
00:47:13Have a couple of other, excuse me,
00:47:19curl and colts that I think a little later down the road could be okay as well.
00:47:24All right.
00:47:25Todd, I know how busy you are.
00:47:26Thanks so much for taking the time to do this.
00:47:28I think I speak for everybody in the media.
00:47:30You're one of the most accessible to the media of any trainer out there,
00:47:35and the cooperation level is always fantastic,
00:47:38and we really, really appreciate it.
00:47:41It's my pleasure.
00:47:43Take care.
00:47:44Good luck.
00:47:45And as this week's Green Group Guest of the Week,
00:47:48Mr. Todd Pletcher will receive a free one-hour tax consultation.
00:47:53If he needs it, he may already use the Green Group,
00:47:55but he will get a chance to talk for free with Lynn Green and company at the Green Group
00:48:00as a result of being our guest.
00:48:02Green Group, of course, over the years has saved a lot of people in the thoroughbred industry,
00:48:06in particular, money on their taxes,
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00:49:30Now let's look back a little bit
00:49:32on the major stakes race that we had last weekend
00:49:34and we previewed it quite extensively.
00:49:37It was the Grade 1 Diana,
00:49:39which, of course, is for fillies and mares on the turf
00:49:42and which, of course, was won again by trainer Chad Brown,
00:49:46who now has won the Diana nine times
00:49:49and he's won it eight of the last nine years.
00:49:55Spectacular fashion.
00:49:57And this year, the Diana was won by White Beam.
00:50:03White Beam.
00:50:04Back to back.
00:50:06Going wire to wire and a good handicapping job
00:50:09if you watch last week's podcast by Bill Finley,
00:50:12who predicted that White Beam would benefit
00:50:15from a very, very slow pace, controlling the pace.
00:50:18I thought the pace would be,
00:50:19so I didn't think it would be that slow.
00:50:22And Flavia and Brad did a perfect job
00:50:24of getting White Beam to the lead,
00:50:26nursing her on the front end in slow fractions
00:50:28and had plenty left to outrun an all-star field.
00:50:30But again, Zoe, again,
00:50:32it's the Chad Brown show and the Diana.
00:50:34And it's not a surprise, right?
00:50:36He's got all the best turf horses
00:50:38and when you have all the best turf horses,
00:50:40it's a vicious circle, right?
00:50:42You have all the best turf horses,
00:50:44so people that have the best turf horses
00:50:46are gonna send you the best turf horses.
00:50:49And all the owners don't care
00:50:50that they're running against other horses
00:50:52that Chad Brown trains.
00:50:54They don't really care.
00:50:56It is a vicious circle
00:50:57and Chad Brown is the leader of the turf circle right now.
00:51:01So each year, we can look back in 10 years time
00:51:04and Chad Brown probably will have won
00:51:06the last 20 runnings of the Diana stakes
00:51:09because he's gonna have the best turf horses
00:51:12because everyone with a good turf horse
00:51:14wants to send it to Chad Brown.
00:51:15Now, White Beam is good at Saratoga.
00:51:17She's good on the lead and she's good with Pratt.
00:51:20So she makes it back to back for Pratt,
00:51:22who I believe is the leading rider right now.
00:51:25He's two in front of the Ortiz brothers who are tied.
00:51:30Good to see Jose Ortiz here in Saratoga.
00:51:33He tied for the leading rider
00:51:35with Tyler Gaffione at Churchill Downs.
00:51:37I spoke to him the other day and I'm like,
00:51:38hey, how's farm life in Kentucky?
00:51:41And he said, what a great move it was for him.
00:51:44He loves it.
00:51:44The kids run a riot on the farm.
00:51:47They got a nice farm there close to Louisville
00:51:50and he's really enjoying it,
00:51:51but it's nice to be up here for the summer.
00:51:53So Pratt, Ortiz, Ortiz are the names
00:51:57that you're probably gonna be hearing an awful lot about.
00:52:01He'd love to be leading rider.
00:52:03I think he'd really like an Eclipse Award
00:52:05a little bit better,
00:52:06but leading rider would be a terrific bonus.
00:52:09I think his agent would like to be leading rider
00:52:11perhaps a little bit more than Flavian.
00:52:14Well, he's off to a tremendously fast start.
00:52:16He's already won three stakes races in Saratoga.
00:52:18He won the Wilton on Miss Justify for Todd Pletcher.
00:52:20Then he wins the Diana.
00:52:21And then he was on the Quick Call winner, right?
00:52:24Star of Mystery.
00:52:26The one that was the fastest horse of the week.
00:52:29As far as Chad goes,
00:52:31I mean, we know that he points for Saratoga.
00:52:33I mean, all the trainers do.
00:52:35Todd does too.
00:52:36But Chad Brown has actually run more horses
00:52:40than Todd Pletcher in each of the last two meetings for sure.
00:52:44And I think maybe each of the last three
00:52:46was a leading trainer at Saratoga two years ago.
00:52:48Tied last year with Linda Rice.
00:52:51And he specifically pointed out, as he likes to do,
00:52:57he likes to invoke his former boss, Bobby Frankel.
00:52:59He was very close with Bobby Frankel.
00:53:01And he pointed out after the race on Saturday
00:53:04about how Bobby always pointed for the Diana,
00:53:07always held the Diana in very high regard.
00:53:09So he kind of inherited that sort of mindset.
00:53:12And when you talk about his turf horses
00:53:15and how good he is with turf horses,
00:53:17right now, Appleby has the leading male turf horses.
00:53:21As good as Chad Brown has been with turf horses in general,
00:53:25both sexes, really he's dominated even more
00:53:28with the female turf horses than he has with the male.
00:53:31Bricks and mortar might be an exception.
00:53:33But when you look at the winners that he's had in the Diana,
00:53:36okay, this is a rabbit hole, Zoe.
00:53:38Okay, I'm ready.
00:53:39It started with Zagora, who was a champion,
00:53:43who won the Philly and Mare Turf, 2.36 million.
00:53:45Then it was DeSita.
00:53:46She was the slacker in the bunch.
00:53:48She only made a million and a half.
00:53:50She wasn't a champion.
00:53:51Lady Eli was a champion, won the Juvenile Phillies Turf.
00:53:55Sister Charlie won the Diana twice.
00:53:57She was a champion.
00:53:58She won the Philly and Mare Turf.
00:53:59Rushing Fall was a champion.
00:54:02She was second in the Philly and Mare Turf.
00:54:04She won the Juvenile Phillies Turf.
00:54:05Ann Italian wasn't a champion,
00:54:07but she won four grade one races.
00:54:09She was second in the Philly and Mare Turf.
00:54:11And then you have White Bean.
00:54:13That is a hell of a lineup of female turf horses
00:54:17that Chad Brown has rolled out for the Diana
00:54:21over the last decade.
00:54:22It's an embarrassment of riches.
00:54:25It really is.
00:54:26And not only is he getting the good female turf horses,
00:54:29if you walk down his shed row,
00:54:32like I did the other day,
00:54:33because I stopped by to see Sierra Leone,
00:54:35he's got plenty of good dirt colts in there as well.
00:54:38Sierra Leone worked solo, on his own,
00:54:41on the training track and looked really good.
00:54:44So we'll see.
00:54:45You know what he told me about Sierra Leone?
00:54:47He was just talking.
00:54:48He said, nevermind his late race antics, what he does.
00:54:52He said, he is the smartest horse I've ever been around.
00:54:55He said, the morning of the Belmont,
00:54:57he was so sure he was gonna win the Belmont.
00:55:01He said, this horse just eats, trains and sleeps.
00:55:05So we had to go wake him up.
00:55:06He eats his food.
00:55:07He lays down.
00:55:08You can't get him up.
00:55:10He said, you can train a horse to do a lot of things,
00:55:12but you can't train a horse to sleep.
00:55:14And that is one of his brilliant traits,
00:55:18is this horse is a sleeper.
00:55:19And if you've been around a lot of good horses,
00:55:21you'll know that horses need rest
00:55:23and they just need to relax and chill out.
00:55:25And if you've got one that's laying down
00:55:27the morning of a race,
00:55:28that's a good sign, a really good sign.
00:55:31So if he sleeps at night,
00:55:33why doesn't he listen to his rider
00:55:35in the final quarter of the night?
00:55:36I don't know.
00:55:37He said aside from that, aside from that.
00:55:40But I'll tell you one thing,
00:55:41when he worked on his own down the lane,
00:55:43he's straight and true.
00:55:44He doesn't really lug in in the mornings.
00:55:47Well, I guess he'll figure it out.
00:55:49So a little bit later in the podcast here,
00:55:51we'll talk about how Saratoga,
00:55:53how well Saratoga has done so far,
00:55:56opening week in terms of handle,
00:55:58despite some rain.
00:56:00But first, the TD and Riders Zoom
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00:57:43The TDN Writers' Room is brought to you
00:57:44by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders.
00:57:48This is the KTOB.
00:57:50Where?
00:57:51A Group 1 Eclipse Stakes winner's bred,
00:57:54I'll tell you why.
00:57:55Kentucky.
00:57:56Of course they are.
00:57:57Congratulations to Kentucky-bred City of Troy,
00:58:00who won his third Group 1 Stakes victory last Saturday
00:58:04while winning the historic Eclipse Stakes at Sandown.
00:58:07Maybe not his best effort,
00:58:09but he won in spite of it.
00:58:11That win gives last year's European champion
00:58:14two-year-old consecutive Group 1 wins this year at three
00:58:17after his win in the Betfred Derby at Epsom last time out.
00:58:22He joins an elite group of just five horses
00:58:25to win the rare Derby Eclipse Double
00:58:28or Darby Eclipse Double.
00:58:30I should know how to say that.
00:58:31He's joining Nashwan and Mill Reef.
00:58:34It's Darby, Randy, if you're in England.
00:58:36What's wrong with me?
00:58:37I've been in too long.
00:58:39All right.
00:58:39We're in the final segment of the 16th poll here
00:58:41of the TDN Writers' Room,
00:58:43and we need to talk about Saratoga again,
00:58:46but primarily the business aspect at Saratoga.
00:58:50We had David O'Rourke on last week,
00:58:52of course, who runs NIRA to talk about Saratoga
00:58:56and about one of the things he mentioned
00:58:58was about how optimistic he was
00:59:00about the upcoming Saratoga meeting from a business sense,
00:59:04primarily because the weather had to be better
00:59:06than it was in 2023 when they were deluged with rain,
00:59:10and also because of the fan reaction
00:59:13to the historic Belmont Stakes meeting run at Saratoga
00:59:16where the handle was just like off the charts.
00:59:19Well, even though opening day at Saratoga on Thursday
00:59:24had some races washed off the turf
00:59:27and switched to the main track with shorter fields,
00:59:29all sources handle for the first four days
00:59:32of the Saratoga meet $97.4 million.
00:59:37That's an 18% increase over the first four days
00:59:42of the 2023 meet.
00:59:44All right.
00:59:45Now, it probably rained last year,
00:59:46so you got to take that into consideration,
00:59:48but it's a very encouraging start for Saratoga.
00:59:52And Zoe, it's especially encouraging
00:59:55given the climate right now in American thoroughbred racing,
00:59:58it's an indication that people will respond
01:00:01to the right kind of product.
01:00:03And yeah, people will respond.
01:00:05It's opening day everywhere.
01:00:08We saw opening day this year,
01:00:10there was a claiming race,
01:00:12and I believe every horse out of that race
01:00:14got claimed out of the race
01:00:15because people are dropping their horses in.
01:00:17They want to win races.
01:00:19It's the same at Del Mar.
01:00:20People don't want to run at La Salle.
01:00:22They're not running the last few days
01:00:23of the Santa Anita meet.
01:00:24They're saving their horses for Del Mar
01:00:27and people are saving their horses for Saratoga.
01:00:30I mean, if you own horses,
01:00:33which is the best and the worst thing in the world,
01:00:35you want to win at Saratoga.
01:00:37You want to win at Del Mar.
01:00:38You want to bring your friends out
01:00:40and have a good time
01:00:41and have a winner at the premier race meet.
01:00:44So that's basically probably why the handle was down
01:00:47at the spring summer meet.
01:00:49But if the weather stays good here at Saratoga,
01:00:52we'd like it to cool down just a little bit.
01:00:54They're going to set all kinds of records
01:00:56throughout the meet.
01:00:57They really are.
01:00:58The betters, obviously,
01:00:59were saving up their money too.
01:01:00Now, while you were on your continental road trip
01:01:04with Doodle that got interrupted,
01:01:08correct me if I'm wrong,
01:01:08there was no major racing last weekend
01:01:12in Southern California, correct?
01:01:14No, they were running at La Salle.
01:01:17No major tracks, correct.
01:01:18That's probably part of the Saratoga numbers
01:01:21because this is interesting.
01:01:23On-track betting was up 2%, 1.9%.
01:01:29On-track attendance, paid admission was down 1.5%.
01:01:35So Saratoga was basically treading water,
01:01:37a little bit higher,
01:01:39but then the all sources handle soared 18.3%,
01:01:44which tells you that the simulcast bettors out there
01:01:47were really pitching it in on Saratoga
01:01:51without any competition,
01:01:53main competition from Southern California.
01:01:56So now with Del Mar opening,
01:01:58you would have to expect, right,
01:02:00that those numbers might kind of come down
01:02:02just a little bit.
01:02:04One more little fun note,
01:02:06a jockey that we have talked about in the past,
01:02:09primarily because of his incredible longevity,
01:02:12Perry Utz is now 70 years old
01:02:16and just rode a winner.
01:02:18It seems like he celebrates his birthday
01:02:20or thereabouts every year now
01:02:22by riding another winner.
01:02:25Zoe, you could still be out there.
01:02:26You could still be out there on horseback.
01:02:28It's not too late.
01:02:30Well, I hope you don't think I'm 70.
01:02:32No, that's what I'm saying.
01:02:33You've got all these years to go.
01:02:37Decades, I have decades to go, Randy.
01:02:40And we'll just put that out there.
01:02:41I have a good couple of decades to go
01:02:44until I'm 70.
01:02:46He has won a race a year for the past 52 years.
01:02:51He's won over 7,000 races.
01:02:53And we're not talking about a guy
01:02:55that just gets put on a horse
01:02:56just to win a race each year, right?
01:02:59We're talking about he's won 100 races a year
01:03:03for close to 42 years.
01:03:06Last year, he won 80 races.
01:03:092022, he won 93 races.
01:03:122021, he won 100 races.
01:03:15He's a septuagenarian, for God's sake.
01:03:18And he's riding the card.
01:03:20It is absolutely amazing.
01:03:23Kudos to Perriots.
01:03:2570 years old.
01:03:27And Zoe Cadman still has a long way to go
01:03:30before she reaches that milestone.
01:03:31I apologize for my insensitivity
01:03:34in not considering that you might actually think
01:03:37that that's what I had in mind.
01:03:38All right.
01:03:39Now, I think you've got something called
01:03:40the XBTV Workout of the Week.
01:03:42I wonder who that would be.
01:03:44Well, I mean, there's really only one horse to talk about.
01:03:47We could be talking about Dornok, but we are not.
01:03:50We are going to talk about Fierceness.
01:03:52And Fierceness is here on the outside.
01:03:54He worked five furlongs in a minute,
01:03:56.47 on Saturday on July the 13th at Saratoga
01:04:00in preparation for the July 20th Haskell at Monmouth Park.
01:04:04That's him on the outside under.
01:04:07Danny Wright, who gets on him every single day.
01:04:09It's his favorite horse ever.
01:04:11Fierceness has been unraced since his 15th place finish
01:04:14as the favorite in the Kentucky Derby.
01:04:17And this was his fifth work back.
01:04:37All at your fingertips and delivered right into your inbox.
01:04:44Everything you need to be informed.
01:04:47Be smart.
01:04:48That's smart with XBTV.
01:04:55All the thrills.
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01:05:16West Point Thoroughbreds, the gold standard in racing partnerships.
01:05:20Visit westpointtv.com.
01:05:23The TD and Riders room also brought to you by our good friends at
01:05:27West Point Thoroughbreds back in the winner's circle again.
01:05:31And the million preview stakes at Colonial Downs last Saturday.
01:05:36Now you read between the lines here.
01:05:38The race was won by West Point's integration.
01:05:40There's only a three horse field.
01:05:42It's scratched down to a three horse field.
01:05:44Integration was one to 20 in that race, but he delivered.
01:05:48He delivered by winning, winning impressively, winning easily.
01:05:52And that was integrations prep, as the name would suggest for the grade one Arlington
01:05:56million stakes, which will be run to Colonial Downs on August the 10th.
01:05:59And the next day, Sunday at Saratoga, another four year old from the Shukmengehe barn.
01:06:03This one named Battle of Normandy, who took his second win in a row.
01:06:08It's one of Flobby and Pratt's seven wins so far at Saratoga.
01:06:11This weekend, West Point will be in on the fun at Del Mar.
01:06:16Good for Terry Finley.
01:06:17Be out there for opening day, Terry.
01:06:19Scatify will run in the Oceanside stakes on opening day.
01:06:24Yet another stake source for West Point.
01:06:27To learn more about how you can get in on this action, you can go to
01:06:31westpointtb.com.
01:06:38So that's it without Bill Finley.
01:06:40It's another edition of the TDN Writer's Room presented by Keeneland.
01:06:45Zoe, thanks for carrying the ball here on this particular podcast.
01:06:50Also, thank you to Todd Pletcher, our Green Group guest of the week, as well as those
01:06:54behind the scenes, Katie Petruniak, Anthony LaRocca, Aliyah LaRocca, all those people
01:06:59that put this together every week.
01:07:02Zoe, what are you going to do without a car?
01:07:04You just bought a new car, right?
01:07:06I just bought a new car, but because I live in California, apparently it's going to take
01:07:10a week to get it registered because it's California.
01:07:16And then it has to be smogged, which they don't do in New York.
01:07:20So it's just a pain in the ass.
01:07:21So are you Ubering right now at Saratoga?
01:07:24I'm still renting a car, which isn't the cheapest thing to do either.
01:07:28I'll get over.
01:07:28It's fine.
01:07:29I'm going to go down to the lake later.
01:07:31It's a beautiful day in Saratoga.
01:07:33Life is good, and I'm glad to be here.
01:07:35Oh, one more thing.
01:07:37Big congrats to Sue Finley.
01:07:38I guess she's a pickleball champ.
01:07:40Did you know that?
01:07:41Oh, I didn't know that.
01:07:43I've always wanted to play pickleball.
01:07:44I never have had a chance to do it.
01:07:45I'm going to take lessons.
01:07:46I'm going to get involved.
01:07:47Sue can teach you.
01:07:50All right.
01:07:50He's a pickleball star.
01:07:53So thanks for clicking on the TDN Writer's Room.
01:07:55Join us next week for more on the latest adventures of Zoe Cadman.
01:07:59What is she driving?
01:08:00How is she driving?
01:08:01How is she getting there?
01:08:03How is doodle?
01:08:05Thanks a lot.